Israel is embroiled in Middle Eastern geopolitics. That, at least, everyone knows. We also aspire to be part of Europe, and never miss a chance to reiterate our “special relationship” with the US. But what about Africa, our next door neighbors? Our history stretches all the way back to the earliest hominids leaving Africa and marching through what is today Israel. Since then there’s been an endless stream of people crisscrossing between the two regions. And on today’s show, we bring you the stories of two of them journeying in very different directions, and for very different reasons, out of – and then into – Africa.

“Don’t Go Out With Him, He’s A Neanderthal!”
For more than three years now, Yuval Noah Harari has topped the bestseller lists in Israel. His book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, is all about leaving Africa. So why do we care so much?!

In a makeshift library in Ethiopia, Yikealo Beyene – an Eritrean refugee – made an unlikely friend. Her harrowing tale stayed with him as he fled his country, crossed the Sinai Desert, and joined the growing community of African asylum-seekers in South Tel Aviv.

For years Danna Harman had been reporting the same old political stories for The Jerusalem Post. She wanted out. That’s how she found herself in Kenya, and that’s how she met Robert, her local driver. Their friendship, equal in some ways, completely lopsided in others, ended with one horrible, terribly confusing, incident.